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bashtimeoutraspberry-pi3ntp

ntpd -qg: Use with timeout

working on Pi3

Situation: only one server in /etc/ntp.conf is given and this given address is invalid (no NTP-Server running on that address).

Problem: running ntpd -qg does never end, since there is no timeout like in ntpdate -t 60.

Question: Can one specify a timeout for ntpd? If not, how can you assure the process ends after time x?

For now on startup the pi executes a bash-script that tries to get actual time from given NTP-Server in /etc/ntp.conf and then hangs in the process since there is no NTP-Server available on that address. So the process is running from start and i can't call another ntpd until the initial ntpd-process is killed.

Any work around?

PS: I would like not to use ntpdate since it is tagged as a retiring package

EDIT:

The RPi3 is located in an isolated network. Online NTP-servers are no option in my case.

Solution

  • There is a timeout command usually shipped with coreutils that allows you to set timeout on any command (even if it does not support it on its own). E.g.

    timeout 60 ntpd -qg

    To run run ntpd -qg and have it time out after 60s. If the command finished, you should get its return value, if the timeout intervened, you get 124.